Raising the Stakes; Zelink Coffee Shop AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Chapter Twenty One

10/13/17

~*~

Friday

(10:05 A.M)

I watched as the tall, broad man patted him on the back and laughed.

"Uncle Daruk," Link identified in a pained voice.

I looked up at the man, feeling like a baby bunny staring at a bear.

"How are you?" he asked in a gravely voice.

"Doing good..." Link replied and his voice cracked. "How about yourself?"

"Doing just great," he replied, stroking his thick beard. As he looked over at me, his hand dropped. "Is this your princess?"

My brows drew together and I shot a quizzical look at Link.

He still had a wince on his face. "This is Zelda."

Daruk grinned, and Link ducked another slap to the back. "Honored to meet you, Zelda," he said, holding out a giant hand.

As I shook it my wrist disappeared. "Likewise," I replied, still very confused.

After Daruk rumbled away, Link pulled me into the living room, which was just another part of the same huge room. Still, he found a corner and shook his head when we reached it. "Daruk refers to all family 'special friends' as princes or princesses," he said quickly. "I really don't know why."

I smiled and shrugged. "I guess I don't mind." Although it did make me think about my father's favorite henchman.

"He's one of the... stranger relatives, but nothing against him personal-" Link was interrupted as an excited voice called out his name.

"Link!" A boy half Link's height threw himself into the air and landed on his back. Quite the difficult feat as Link's back was facing the wall.

He staggered, undoubtedly already sore from his uncle. "Colin, it's nice to see you," he greeted.

Colin dropped to the ground and smiled up at him. "It's been forever!"

"I saw you last month," Link replied with a grin.

"Too lonnng!"

He laughed and grabbed the blond boy by the waist and lifted him into the air. "I missed you too, buddy."

"Now we have days to play!" Colin said as he was set back down.

Link chuckled. "I've got a girl that needs some of that time too," he warned, looking at me with a smile.

I smiled back but felt light headed.

Colin looked at me. "She's not family." He frowned. "Who is she?"

"This is Zelda, my-"

Colin made a face. "Oh, dad told me about you."

My face was red, and the blood rushing in my head hampered my ability to hear all of Colin's words. My. My girlfriend.

Snap out of it... what the heck. It's a part of the deal.

"You'll live without my constant attention, I promise... But hey, if it snows this year I promise we're going to have a snow war."

His eyes lit up. "Yes!" Colin shouted in glee, then ran off to find his parents to tell them the exciting news.

Link turned to me and smiled. "So... that was Colin."

I had to think on that for a moment, whilst simultaneously flushing out my other ridiculous thoughts. I knew Colin was his cousin but... "Your grandma's... youngest son's... son?" I replied.

Link nodded. "Good memory," he said. "He's very excitable."

"And he loves you," I said with a smile.

"It's mutual." Link's grin was contagious. "I've told you before that his dad Rusl is like a father to me, so Colin is really my brother - blood aside."

"That sounds nice..." I said softly. To have a family inside of a family. To have so many people loving you... I never knew such a thing existed outside of fairytales.

"I want you to meet him," Link said, taking my hand again. He didn't pull me this time so we walked together.

My other hand dropped to where ours were intertwined, and I rested it there until I would have to move it.

"Rusl," Link greeted, holding out his free hand.

The man looked up from his son and smiled. "Link, it's been too long," he said as he took his hand.

I couldn't help but smile too. Smiles were so real here they were utterly contagious.

"Are you Zelda?" the woman beside Rusl asked.

"That I am," I replied as I turned toward her. A kind looking face, short blonde hair and-- woah, she was very pregnant.

"My name is Uli," she introduced. "It's such a pleasure to meet you."

Link squeezed my hand before letting it go. "Rusl, this is Zelda," he introduced.

Rusl accompanied the handshake with another smile. "Nice to meet you."

I returned it. "Nice to meet you as well." After I'd dropped my hand from his I felt a wave of awkwardness. There I was standing amongst the people who Link considered to be his father, mother, and brother, and I didn't even know what I really was to him.

Aryll suddenly darted up to the group and grabbed onto my arm. "Hey Zel, can I steal you for a minute?"

Amidst the shock at her sudden appearance, I looked over at Link. His shrug said 'go if you want to.' Looking back at Aryll I smiled. "Sure?"

Link's little sister grinned and pulled me along, back past the kitchen and then out of the big room. Up a flight of stairs we went, and through a bright blue doorway. "This is my room," she announced. "You're staying in here with me." She turned to me with a grin on her face. "It'll be like a sleepover!"

"I'm staying in here?" I asked, looking at the huge room. A smile spread across my face. "I've never really had a sleepover before."

"What? Never?"

"I don't know if you know, but my parents were kinda..." I hesitated. "Well, they were really... uh... strict."

"Well, prepare for a change," Aryll said, pulling me onto a bed. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

I grinned past the memories of empty nights. "Well, now I'm very much looking forward to it."

A sharp clicking noise came from the corner of the room, and I jumped, almost falling off the edge of the bed.

Aryll laughed. "Sorry if he startled you," she said as she walked over to a large cage, "This is Seagull."

I looked up after I regained my balance and saw a big grey bird sitting on the top of the open cage. I'd never been in the same room as a pet bird before. Only seen them on the roadside or watched them outside my window. "...but... that's a parrot?"

Aryll nodded and started to laugh. "Yeah, I named him like eight years ago. Apparently I was obsessed with seagulls. I just call him Seag though."

I smiled. "That's a good name, I like it," I said. "I'm a writer, so I've got an appreciation for names."

"Right! Oh my gosh, writing is so cool. I do write a little in my spare time but I'm sure it's nothing compared to yours. But I was really excited to meet you because Grandma told me you were trying to publish a book and that's just so cool, I could never imagine doing that, but-" Aryll trailed off into a ramble.

I only smiled as I listened. This girl looked so much like Link...

The door opened again, cutting off Aryll's talk about cookbooks.

A white-haired girl stepped inside. "Aryll, grandma says playtime is over, she needs help again."